Tips Tuesday

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on technology, research and practice.

Technology

A better microphone can really improve your online calls, podcasts or music recordings
Dan Pinnington

It is a safe bet that the microphone on your desktop or laptop probably makes you sound like you are under water or in the next room most of the time. If you make a lot of call calls on Skype, regularly participate in Hangouts, or record music or podcasts, a decent can make a world of difference. . . .

Research

Internet Archive – more than just the wayback machine
Shaunna Mireau

It may be a rare Slaw Tips reader who has not plugged a website URL into the Wayback Machine offered by the Internet Archive. We have mentioned Internet Archive in a couple of previous tips here and here. Today’s tip is a reminder that Internet Archive is more … much, much, more than just an archive of the web. . . .

Practice

Migrating from XP to Windows 8.1
David Bilinsky & Garry Wise

Amidst all the hype about this week’s end of Windows XP support, I made the jump on the weekend to Windows 8.1 from the first of our remaining, four XP computers. Overall, it was a pretty seamless and surprisingly anti-climatic event, particularly given my long avoidance of this change, buttressed as it has been by the many mixed reviews of the Windows 8 interface I’ve encountered online. . . .